Green Cloakers of Hollow's Rest

When the Dark Spawn rise who you gonna call? Green Cloakers!

Alain

The Kingdom of Alain is an old and noble land that has been ruled fairly and peacefully for hundreds of years now. It is peaceful in that it has not gone to war with itself or any neighbors for almost two hundred years and has been on good terms with it’s neighbors for at least as long. It is not so peaceful in that the political games that are played everywhere are played here as well, oh yes. And it is not so peaceful in that it take something near a standing army of volunteers to keep the monsters and dozens of secret threats from becoming a reality and threatening that peace.

The government of Alain is an elected Tyranny. That is, a tyrant is put into office by any of the usual means and lasts until he dies or makes life uncomfortable enough for the people that they kick him out. (In which case he is likely a goner.)

After that fellow’s career, the next dictator takes the fancy seat for a while and has the chance to revoke or remove any previous laws put in place by his predecessors as well as instigate his own. However, some fundamental freedoms are respected to all intelligent humanoids. These include right to property, freedom of mind and body, life, and the ever hazy ‘well being.’ Freedom of mind allows opinions and ideas of all kinds, no matter how dark. Right of Property is summarized by explaining that property is owned by law until legally stolen, or ownership is revoked, repealed, or forfeit. This last can be achieved by erasure of the person in question and arranging so that the item in question is available afterwords.

Additionally, such a practical view on ownership has resulted in a practical view on the roles of thief, assassin, mercenary, and adventurer. As such, those and similar occupation (such as pirate) are respected, and often rewarding careers. It must be noted though that the ability of a thief to keep possession of any item they are hired to burgle results in a strong brand of honor amongst thieves that especially flourishes with The Houses.

Currency
The currency throughout the Kingdom has been standardized for than a hundred years now by the Gould House.

A copper, the smallest piece, is considered spare change for most people and is worth a tenth of a ninth of a man’s wages for a day. It has a picture of the Capitol on one side and the words ‘Te Corum Nessi lam.’ Which is ‘The foundation of a Land,’ in Old Rullue. Copper are often called ‘a bit’, ‘lowlies’ or ‘dirt piece’

The silver piece is the most common and used piece in the land for everyday transactions. It is considered a ninth of man’s wages for a work day, thus, most unskilled laborers make approximately 10 silver each day. It has the double dragon wings flanked crowned by belosi flowers. The reverse side has the three kingdom’s jewels. It is interesting to not the older coins made with impure coal silver are engraved with ‘Lepsi decut entoriem’ in High Alain again. But the those minted in the past thirty years or so say ‘The real might’ in common tongue. As the most common currency, slang for them abound. Such as: Marqs, wingies, workin’ piece, a little bit etc.

Gold pieces are the larger denominations that people often carry. They are values at an exact amount of equivalent amount of pure gold in the markets and that equates to ten silvers. The Capitol shines out from the front with the rear holding numerous (and varied, depending on minting year) detailed pips said to represent The Houses. If one were to take a microscope to those, they would indeed find a image of a familiar House, an insignia, or perhaps a representative symbol. Ringing the back side are the words ‘The wealth of a Land’ in Old Rullue. Nicknames for the gold piece abound, like, a yarn, a duboon, a nob’s piece, a bigger bit and similar.

Platinum pieces are for the wealthy and have a unique blue sheen to their otherwise small size. It takes a full ten gold to trade equally for a King’s piece, a large bit, or a tarny blue. But they are worth it due to the exquisite detail that the minters managed to work into the face of it. One of the first’s task each new Tyrant undergoes is visiting the caster/sculptor and getting a new run of the coins going. Thus, each ruler has a unique portrait and customizes the back as they please. This makes certain unpopular Tyrant’s coins awfully prized as so few of them were crafted.

Finally, and noted only for the scholarly, Orichulum, being pure, physical magic potential (sometimes known as Tass in other forms) is a sparkly, semi-solid liquid that can be made only by mages who know the secret and who can craft it with other materials to form it into a solid, hard coin that doesn’t evaporate. Semi pure Orichulum can be mined/extracted from magically rich places (sacred groves, mines, cloud motes and the like.) Orichulum is prized for more for it’s magical power than as any currency a mage would rather trade services to acquire it, but if brought to a Gould House, it would be fairly traded for ten platinum pieces.

Religion of Alain
The deities and worship practices of Alain are different from other nations and worlds, but won’t have an extreme effect on this campaign (hopefully).

Languages
The dialects spoken by the peoples of Alain are as varied and numerous as they.

The Tyrant
The all powerful ruler of Alain is a secretive person with many resources at her disposal and a great deal of complication in her life.

The Land
Beyond the kingdom of Alain lies a whole world which the populace largely calls the Land, or the First Land to those who have been to other Lands. While it may not bear much on the campaign, I’ll give a brief idea of what else there is.